A new drug has been shown to increase healing and regeneration of the liver after major surgery, according to a study published in the scientific journal Cell. Researchers hope that this could lead to more surgical options for patients diagnosed with advanced liver tumors and liver failure.
“This research is significant because this is the first drug of its kind to show an increase in healing and regeneration of the liver after major surgery,” says Scott Nyberg, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic transplant surgeon and co-senior author of the study. “This discovery has the potential to improve the treatment of liver failure, increase the safety of liver transplantation for living donors and potentially avoid the need for a liver transplant in some cases.”
Liver disease remains a major health concern, causing an estimated 2 million deaths worldwide per year. While healthy livers have a nearly unlimited ability to regenerate themselves, that is not the case for livers that are damaged. As a result, surgeons treating a patient with primary liver tumors are limited in how large of a section of the liver can safely be removed to avoid liver failure.
The study found that a drug called HRX215 inhibits the MKK4 protein found in liver cells. That appears to trigger the self-healing function of the liver, allowing it to regenerate. The preclinical study was able to show that the use of HRX-215 increased liver regeneration and prevented liver failure, even after the removal of 85% of the organ. The phase 1 study found excellent safety and tolerability of the drug in people.
Researchers are hopeful that this discovery will one day create more surgical options for patients with advanced liver tumors by allowing more of the liver to be safely removed. It also has the potential to benefit patients with acute and chronic liver failure. This drug could potentially allow for successful liver transplants from a smaller portion of a healthy donor’s liver, and thus posing less risk to healthy donors. This drug also could potentially eliminate the need for a liver transplant for some patients.
Source: Adapted from an article by Heather Carlson Kehren; https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/researchers-find-promise-in-new-potential-treatment-for-liver-failure/
